Stroke - Preventing Stroke

While stroke can happen to anyone at any age, there are certain characteristics that increase your chances of having a stroke. Some of these factors are out of your control, such as your age and menopausal status, your family history, and your race or ethnicity. Others are related to an unhealthy lifestyle that you can change to reduce your risk, including:

There are stroke risk factors that affect women in particular: for example, women taking birth control pills or menopausal hormone therapy are, to varying degrees, at increased stroke risk. There are also stroke concerns that are unique to pregnancy.

Your overall stroke risk is determined by the relation between these and other factors. For detailed information on all of these risk factors and how you can address them to prevent stroke, see our Risk Factors section.

How can I prevent stroke?

The more stroke risk factors you have, the greater the chance that you will have a stroke. You can't control some risk factors, such as aging, family history, race, or gender, but you can change or treat most other risk factors to lower your risk.